President’s Secretary Austin Fernando said today that restriction to social media platform WhatsApp will be removed from midnight today.

Restriction to social media platform Viber was removed from midnight yesterday.

Sri Lanka imposed a blanket ban on social media platforms WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram and Facebook in a bid to prevent the spread of hate speech inciting violence against minority Muslims.

The move came on the heels of violence in Kandy as mobs torched Muslim establishments and homes in the wake of the death of a Sinhalese truck driver at the hands of four Muslim men on Saturday (3).